Making it: a strategies primer for African-American entrepreneurs seeking capital in Los Angeles

2018-05-14African‐American firms play a critical role in strengthening communities by providing jobs and supplying goods and services, but they face serious disparities in securing the capital to start and grow their businesses. Numerous studies focus on the challenges they face and the issues that surround these efforts. Making It: A strategies primer for African‐American entrepreneurs seeking capital in Los Angeles sought to look past the descriptive data on existing conditions to answer three research questions: 1) How have African‐American entrepreneurs in Los Angeles overcome the challenges they faced in accessing capital to build their companies? 2) What challenges do financial services providers face in distributing the necessary capital to African‐American entrepreneurs, and 3) What information can be shared with African‐American entrepreneurs to shorten their journey to success by improving their potential to secure the capital they need? Using a simultaneous mixed methods approach, the study surveyed and interviewed 69 entrepreneurs and financial services providers. The results produced numerous findings when examined together suggest that a collaborative, systemic approach is needed to address known disparities